This and That

53°f at 9am, feels a bit chilly,  but nice after the heatbof thebpast few weeks. Low humidity, clear skies, a perfect spring morning.

I wake each morning now to the song of a Summer Tanager, who has apparently taken up residence in the trees on that side of the house. It's a much more pleasant wake-up call than an alarm clock.

We will be putting up the cherries today. We picked them with our son Derek's help the other day, and ended up with about 2 gallons. These will be made into pie filling. So useful for cobblers, pies, ice cream topping and even to top off pancakes.

It's not all work around here. We had a nice cookout the other evening, and enjoyed Derek's barbecued chicken again.

And Tuesday evening was perfect for the firepit.

Those quiet times are such a pleasure--although, with Derek's granddaughter Elliana here for the cookout, it was anything but quiet! She is a very busy, talkative and determined two-year-old! Her favorite words these days seem to be "I do it" and "I got it!" Independence seems to be her middle name. She is so funny to watch as she visits the chickens, moves around my knickknacks,  and scolds Buddy the dog. He listens to her, surprisingly.

I planted more carrots yesterday, and some radishes. The garden is coming along nicely. I pulled some baby carrots planted in April to thin the row a bit, and picked a bag of lettuce too. My favorite lettuce to grow is Red Sails, or maybe it's Ruby Sails, can't remember. But is is so pretty, does well here, and holds a long time in the garden. This first planting is nearly done, but the second and third plantings are growing fast.

You probably know this, but lettuce can be kept fresh a good while in the fridge if you wash it, pat it dry, and store in a zip lock bag with a damp paper towel.  I have found that my leaf lettuce will keep over a week this way. This trick works for other veggies too.

Do you remember my post the other day about the house cleanout where we bought quite a few things? Our friend gave us a refrigerator that needed a thorough cleaning but was in good shape overall. Larry and Derek moved it Tuesday, and Larry has been cleaning it up. An extra fridge will be so handy when the garden is booming, or when we have guests, as my small fridge gets stuffed to the max then.

Ending today with some more flower garden photos. You may be getting tired of them, and I do understand, but I have to admit, I never do.

All kinds of stuff: oregano in the front, then lavender (the one plant that has survived for 2 years), iris, coreopsis, a planter of petunias and coleus, and Marguerite in the background. A few other things in there too.

Those pretty primroses that have spread so abundantly.

Tall phlox 

Coreopsis. Behind them, a new area of wildflowers I seeded a couple weeks ago. I am curious to see what comes up.

Evening primrose

Marguerite 

A peculiar light effect the other evening when I snapped this.

Lilies and geraniums 

Primroses and coreopsis

The rose garden

Buddy the photobomber.

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